USask student to participate in United Nations session

By Chris Putnam

A delegation of six young Canadians to the next annual session of the United Nations (UN) Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) will include one tireless advocate from Saskatchewan: University of Saskatchewan (USask) student Syndel Thomas Kozar.

The Bachelor of Arts double honours student was chosen by Young Diplomats of Canada to attend the 70^th CSW session at UN Headquarters in New York from March 9–19.

“I’m super excited,” Thomas Kozar said. “I never thought that I’d have an opportunity to contribute to international spaces like this, and I’m just super grateful and humbled to be able to learn and grow alongside such other amazing leaders.”

CSW is the world’s main intergovernmental body dedicated to promoting gender equality and women’s rights. Thomas Kozar and her fellow delegates will engage in the session’s forums and side events, and will have the opportunity to submit written and oral statements.

Based in Melfort, Sask., Thomas Kozar is a Two-Spirit, neurodivergent, half Plains Cree and half white-settler woman. She is a band member of One Arrow First Nation and a first-generation university student who says these positions ground and inform her work.

“I really want to make sure that Indigenous, Two-Spirited, neurodiverse folks have a seat at the table,” Thomas Kozar said. “I’ve got a voice and I’ll use it. I’m of the perspective that I’ll take up whatever space I possibly can to make sure that we are advocating for better Indigenous futures.”

The USask student, who expects to graduate this spring with degrees in Indigenous studies and women’s and gender studies plus a Certificate in Indigenous Storytelling, has extensive volunteer and work experience advancing gender equity, wellness and cultural resurgence. She is a director of the Organization of Saskatchewan Arts Councils and the Melfort Arts Council, has served on many provincial and national advisory committees, and has facilitated dozens of workshops on cultural reclamation, gender justice, and collective wellness.

Thomas Kozar has been meeting with her fellow delegates since October to come up with priorities and proposals to bring to CSW in March. Their recommendations will include building one-stop crisis centres for gender-based violence survivors, creating specialized gender-based violence courts, pursuing better data collection to expose systemic disparities, and establishing long-term support systems for Indigenous-led community responses.

As the delegation’s equity, diversity and inclusion coordinator, one of Thomas Kozar’s priorities will be translating the recommendations into accessible and culturally safe formats that will reach youth and communities—not just governments.

This fall, Thomas Kozar will begin the Master of Arts program in Indigenous studies at USask.

Raised by residential school survivors, the 27-year-old student first enrolled at USask at 18 but struggled with alcoholism and dropped out. She later had children, got sober, and returned to university with renewed determination.

Her lived experience—and her understanding of the broader context she gained through her College of Arts and Science education—helps drive her forward. As she advocates for social change, Thomas Kozar also hopes to be a role model for other Indigenous young people.

“Seven years ago, I was in the midst of my addiction and I was really looking for a way out. And now here I am at the top of the world—at the top of my world. I couldn’t be happier: accepted into my master’s, about to enter into this delegation, doing all my other community work and just really expanding my reach in the community. I’m super grateful to take these seats and I just really want to inspire others to do the same.”

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